It is, of course, exciting and moving to see these massive creatures. They will blow, surface elegantly, then dive with a sweep of their marvelous flukes.

But it also fills us with concern that their lives are lived in such close proximity to the giant ships, which can hit them without even knowing it or having a chance to alter course.

By tracking presence and movements of these whales, we can assess whether measures can be taken to move the shipping lane further offshore to reduce the risk of ship strikes to this endangered species. The lane presently runs close to the coastline, and about 150 ships pass through it each day.

Our surveys are covering the inshore areas, where the whales and ships currently overlap, as well as the offshore areas. Currently ships do not use these offshore waters, but they could possibly be diverted further offshore if our survey finds that there are few or no whales there.

With all the current sightings in the shipping lanes or closer inshore, so far the unofficial data set is already quite convincing.

We have seen some terrible photographs of blue whales with major ship strike injuries. Some of these whales die almost immediately, whilst some suffer with life-changing injuries. Since we have been here, however, we have not yet seen such injuries.

Raja’s knowledge of and dedication to the area and its whales make him the ideal partner for this project, and our long survey days at sea are giving us plenty to think about as to how to go about tackling the problem.

Our surveys will continue into April. So far it has been quite windy – unusual for this time of year. This has made our work more challenging, especially in the more exposed areas of our survey block.

We hope for kinder weather and look forward to learning more as we work towards a solution to blue whale ship strikes in this area.